The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

One of the great challenges of our time is to satisfy humanity’s needs while protecting the natural resources and environmental conditions upon which all life – including our own – depends. The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies was created in response to this challenge. The institute seeks sustainable paths that improve both the quality of human life and the quality of the environment in Wisconsin and around the world.

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Named for Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, the institute has been an incubator, laboratory and model of collaborative education, research, and public service for 40 years. Interdisciplinary by design, it gathers the best and brightest from all corners of the university – scientists, engineers, health and legal experts along with economists, historians, ethics and political scholars, and more. It also reaches beyond the campus to build partnerships with stakeholders in government, business, the nonprofit sector, and other academic institutions.

Armed with a diversity of perspectives and expertise, the Nelson Institute tackles local concerns like the health of Madison’s lakes, global issues like climate change, and much in between. It educates students by offering a wide array of courses as well as undergraduate and graduate-level degrees and certificates. It conducts a broad range of interdisciplinary research. It practices the Wisconsin Idea by organizing cooperative programs and public events that benefit the people of the state and beyond.

Providing need-based financial aid to undergraduates in environmental studies from traditionally underrepresented groups, this innovative scholarship program delivers a combination of classroom learning and community service.

A friend and member of the Nelson alumni has pledged $250,000 to support graduate students working in the area of political ecology, policy, politics, and environment in North American and Canada. We are seeking matches for this fund, to extend research opportunities to UW grads working in this critical area.

Providing service learning-opportunities that connect UW students with communities throughout the region, NelsonCorps and Zeive Assistantships provide support for individual students and cohorts to engage in research driven by community needs, for K-12 environmental education to remediating urban soils, to restoring native Wisconsin prairie, funds dedicated here embody the Wisconsin Idea.

Nelson’s signature public events include both the Institute’s annual Earth day event, a teach-in bringing together people from across the country to engage environmental issues, as well as its biennial film festival “Tales from Planet Earth“, a globally recognized cultural event uniting environmental filmmakers and the public.

Funds in the director’s fund help expand our infrastructure, support research excellence, and create new opportunities for the Nelson Institute to convene the public and provide critical environmental knowledge for decision-making around the region and the world.